Pretoria - The shock exit by Tshwane’s executive mayor Randall Williams from office this week has been described as a breath of fresh air for the municipality.
The SA Municipal Workers Union’s (Samwu) regional chairperson Nkhetheni Muthavhi, said Williams’ resignation on Monday had lifted staff morale.
He attributed Williams’ exit to the “baas boy mentality” he demonstrated when he (allegedly) instructed senior municipal officials to rubber stamp a R26 billion unsolicited bid proposal for generating power for the city.
The instruction was captured in a recording in which Williams was heard telling senior managers that the City's executive authority made “executive decisions” and that the administration was duty-bound to implement them whether they “agree or disagree”.
He was subsequently accused of meddling in municipal procurement processes.
“His exit will boost staff morale. This man has been terrorising staff. He is a bully; the morale is high now. Good riddance, it is about time,” Muthavhi said.
Samwu said that Williams would be remembered as the mayor who presided over the collapse of the City’s finances, was responsible for the City’s R10bn irregular expenditure and R1bn fruitless and wasteful expenditure recently flagged by the Auditor-General (AG).
On January 26, the City came under fire for its disastrous financial statements for 2021/22 financial year when the AG officially presented it to council.
Political parties such as the ANC and the EFF called for the mayor’s resignation over the city’s financial mismanagement.
Samwu said: “As workers, we will remember councillor Williams as the man whose administration denied municipal workers their 3.5% salary increase in 2021 as agreed by parties in the South African Local Government Bargaining Council.”
Gauteng MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, E-Government, Research and Development Mzi Khumalo said: “The collapse of financial management under the executive mayor, coupled with the persistent governance challenges that plague the City of Tshwane, has rendered the municipality incapable of discharging its constitutional mandate and responsibility.”
EFF leader in Tshwane, Obakeng Ramabodu, said his party rejected Williams’ amendment to his resignation date, which was initially at midnight yesterday , and subsequently changed to February 28.
Williams announced that finance MMC Peter Sutton would assume the role of the acting mayor.
According to Ramabodu, Williams could not “unilaterally assume the powers of the municipal council by appointing an acting executive mayor to take charge of the mayoral office following his exit”.
Speaker of Council, Dr Murunwa Makwarela, has indicated that he would initiate a process to elect a new mayor within 14 days after Williams’ departure.
The Coalition Oversight Group of the governing multiparty coalition in Tshwane, which met on Monday evening, said that the resignation was “an important step in stabilising and ensuring the future of the coalition”.
“The coalition dealt with the views of the two resignation letters received from mayor Williams, recognising that it is the legally defined role of the Speaker to obtain the necessary legal advice on this matter and its implications. The coalition shall await his ruling in this respect,” it said.
The ANC in Tshwane said that Williams’s resignation was long overdue, saying he was leaving the City “in a state of ruin”.
“As his final act of cowardice, the outgoing mayor runs from the adverse audit findings of the Auditor-General of South Africa, a dilapidated city with no service delivery all round, a low staff morale and a lack of coherent leadership from him and his entire executive,” the ANC said.
The party said the City had stumbled from one crisis to another under the DA-led administration.
“This also vindicates the ANC caucus in the City of Tshwane. The ANC caucus has consistently maintained that Randall Williams and his acolytes in the DA-led coalition were only interested in serving themselves at the expense of the people of Tshwane, while neglecting a majority of the people living in conditions of squalor in townships,” the party said.
Williams was facing a motion of no confidence from minority parties including the African Transformation Movement, African Independent Congress, GOOD, Republican Conference of Tshwane, PAC, Defence of the People and the Patriotic Alliance.
The parties had submitted three motions of no confidence with the Speaker against him, the chief whip and all chairpersons of committees.
Pretoria News